The proliferation of capable user devices, pervasive communication, and increased bandwidth has provided opportunity for many enhanced services for users. One example is video calling. Once the domain of high-end, dedicated systems from vendors such as POLYCOM®, video calling has become available to the average consumer at a reasonable cost. For example, the Biscotti™ device, available from Biscotti, Inc., provides an inexpensive tool to allow video calling using a high-definition television and an Internet connection. More generally, a class of devices, which have been described as “video calling devices” but are referred to herein as video communication devices (“VCDs”) can be simultaneously connected to a display (such as a television, to name one example) and a source of content (such as a set-top box (“STB”), to name an example) in a pass-through configuration and can have a network connection and/or sensors such as a camera, a microphone, infrared sensors, and/or other suitable sensors. Such devices present a powerful platform for various applications. Examples include, without limitation, video calling, instant messaging, presence detection, status updates, media streaming over the Internet, web content viewing, gaming, and DVR capability. Another example of such value added services is the introduction of online gaming. Rather than playing a game by him- or herself, a user now can play most games in a multiplayer mode, using communication over the Internet or another network.
Enabling such services is a new class of user device, which generally features relatively high-end processing capability (which would have been unthinkable outside supercomputing labs just a few years ago), substantial random access memory, and relatively vast non-transient storage capabilities, including hard drives, solid state drives, and the like. Such user devices can include, without limitation, the VCDs mentioned above, the presence detection devices (“PDDs”) described in the '279 application, various video game consoles, and the like. Such devices generally have a reliable, and relatively high-speed, connection to the Internet (to enable the value added services) and significant amounts of downtime, in which the processing and other capabilities of the devices are unused.
Additionally, some existing products offer video mail. However, implementation of such existing video mail services depend on both parties (i.e., caller and callee) to have the same product because such existing products are based on the calling device recording the video mail and thus must be able to intercommunicate with (or otherwise be compatible with) the called device in order to record and leave a video mail. This is a major limitation as the caller (the person leaving the video mail) must also have the same product as the callee, which limits the utility of the video mail feature.
Hence, there is a need for solutions that allow for more flexible video mail implementations, and/or for more flexible configuration options thereof, as well as for more flexible remote access to video mail, and some such solutions can employ the powerful user devices already resident in many users' homes.